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LAB-005 · R06

*Tot de Haan Kraait*: a production problem becomes a second product

The instrumental tests produced three musical starting points, each in a gentler and a heavier, rock-leaning version, for six tracks in total. The obvious move was to add them to the album as bonus tracks. We decided against it. Dances and narrative songs ask for different kinds of listening, and mixing them without a clear structure would blur the album.

Released as they stood, the six tracks would have sounded like three songs with alternate mixes. So they were reordered by moment instead of by origin, as one night around a fire:

  1. Als het Vuur Ontwaakt: people gather
  2. Dans van de Drie Penningen: the first dancers
  3. Onder de Gulden Haan: the full feast
  4. De Duivel op de Tafel: the wild peak
  5. Bij het Laatste Vuur: the small hours
  6. Tot de Haan Kraait: one last dance before dawn

A melody that returns hours later in a heavier arrangement now reads as ritual rather than repetition. This only works if the arrangements differ enough and related versions are not placed side by side. Which final master goes with which slot in the tracklist has not yet been checked.

The commercial role is different from the album's. There is no language barrier, so the hypothesis is that the EP could bring in listeners from abroad, who then find their way to Maerten and the narrative album. Germany is the first test market. Promotion texts in German have been written. The Dutch titles stay, and translations are used in promotion.

Release plans:

  • Date. The release is planned for Friday 18 December 2026. It suits the long nights, but it deliberately avoids Christmas imagery: "The longest nights are made for dancing." The risk is that the first weeks fall in the holiday period, so the EP has to keep working through spring and the festival season.
  • No advance singles. With only six short tracks, releasing singles first would give away much of the EP before release day. The full EP is planned to come out at once, with the title track as the focus on release day. This is a strategic choice, not a proven one. A new artist without an audience could also gain from advance singles.
  • Campaign line. "Six dances. One fire. No one leaves before dawn."